The enemy within

Friday August 02, 2002 23:12

by David Vance

The accommodation of the wishes of terrorists has been an over-riding doctrine within Irish political life. For seventy years, Europe's most vicious and deadly terrorist group, the IRA, operated with absolute impunity from the soil of the Irish Republic. Not only did it launch a campaign of genocide against the people of Northern Ireland from the Republic, but there are disturbing accusations of the Irish State colluding in many brutal murders committed within Northern Ireland.

The outrage in the comments is visceral. "I would like to condemn utterly the horrific Israeli air force attack in Gaza." This was followed up with the equally blunt, "Has Ariel Sharon any moral sense at all?"

Such ill-informed and hysterical reaction to the Israeli strike on the Hamas terrorist mastermind Salah Shehade was predictable. After all, Israel has very few friends in Europe. However what may surprise is the singular fact that the speaker was in fact the Israeli Press Officer, Dr. Noreen O'Carroll, at the Israeli Embassy in Dublin! To be attacked from the outside is one thing; but from within is quite another. How could such a situation prevail in Ireland?

The Irish aversion to fighting terrorism is part of the explanation, along with understanding the discrete but seething hatred of Israel that so disfigures the Emerald Isle, along with most of the European Union.

The accommodation of the wishes of terrorists has been an over-riding doctrine within Irish political life. For seventy years, Europe's most vicious and deadly terrorist group, the IRA, operated with absolute impunity from the soil of the Irish Republic. Not only did it launch a campaign of genocide against the people of Northern Ireland from the Republic, but there are disturbing accusations of the Irish State colluding in many brutal murders committed within Northern Ireland.

After 3000 murders, the Irish Government can still not bring itself to move against the terrorists. Instead it indulgences their propagandists in positions of Government! A political class so inured to the immorality of killing is incapable of confronting terrorism wherever it finds it. Instead it embraces it.

That is why when the Israeli Defense Force cornered 13 vicious Palestinian terrorists at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, Ireland promptly volunteered to offer "sanctuary" (as the Irish Prime Minister put it) to two of these hardened killers. This cowardly act was met with universal media approval in Ireland, with much concern being expressed as to the protection of the "human rights" of the two Palestinian terrorists. Not a mention was made of the litany of murder that they had committed against innocent men, women and children in Israel. Not all people deserve to have human rights, apparently.

With terrorism seen as nothing worse than a more vigorous form of political activity, the Irish intelligentsia views Arafat and his killers as just another oppressed minority. The obscene bombings and shootings carried out against the Israeli people by these gangsters bring echoes of similar atrocities perpetrated against the British people in Northern Ireland by Irish terrorists. Anybody expecting Irish political condemnation of Arafat is living in cloud cuckoo land!

The Irish media is also aggressively anti-Israeli and proudly pro-Palestinian. Media pundits supporting Arafat and his killing regime abound. Those who take a diametrically opposed position are not permitted any media platform. In this Pravda manner, the Irish people are subjected to constant Palestinian propaganda with no opportunity to be exposed to an effective injection of truth.

This brings us back to prime Palestinian apologist (and Israeli Press Officer) Dr. O'Carroll. Her obvious disbelief that a terrorist warlord can be assassinated is understandable. She believes that this kind should be appeased. Her contempt for Ariel Sharon in trying to save Israeli lives is only exceeded by her admiration for those denizens of Gaza City who spent their time trying to dream up new ways to kill Israelis. In Ireland public demonstrations in support of the godfather of terrorism Arafat are plentiful. I am unaware of any in support of Israel.

Dr. O'Carroll's opinions were seized upon by Irish hacks to underline and obviate their own innate anti-Israeli prejudices. Their immoral canon for appeasing terrorists was trotted out yet again. This reduces to nothing more sophisticated than; a) Killing terrorists only creates more terror; b) Dialogue with terrorists is a much enlightened option, and c) Conceding to the terrorists' demands is a sign of a truly sophisticated society.

Dr. O'Carroll is a symptom of the moral decadence that exemplifies European political life. She has a perfect right to express her malignant views on Israel. However she has no right to do so whilst working for the Israeli government. Israel must expunge the enemy from within.